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The Value of Capstone Projects to Participating Client Agencies The Value of Capstone Projects to Participating Client Agencies David R. Schachter New York University Deena Schwartz New York University ABSTRACT Many schools have experiential learning projects, often termed “capstones,” where students combine theory and practice for the benefit of an outside agency. New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service (NYU Wagner) has devoted a great deal of thought and effort to strengthening and sustaining its Capstone program from the students’ perspective, and it has seen significant improvement. But we knew less about whether the project work our students performed was helpful to participating Capstone client organizations, as well as what factors made certain projects more successful from the clients’ point of view. In an effort to assess and understand this perspective, we undertook a post-project survey of recent Capstone clients. The results indicate very strongly that the services offered and tools created by our Capstone teams are useful to these outside agencies, and the feedback offers indications of how to increase the value of these projects going forward. THE VALUE <strong>OF</strong> CAPSTONE PROJECTS TO PARTICIPATING CLIENT AGENCIES Many <strong>National</strong> Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) and Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) schools — such as those at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz School, Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, George Washington University’s Trachtenberg School, New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School, Syracuse University’s Maxwell School, and Texas A&M’s Bush School — build experiential learning opportunities into their curriculum through capstone programs, where students work on projects for JPAE 15(4): 445–461 Journal of Public Affairs Education 445
The Value of Capstone Projects to Participating Client Agencies governmental or nonprofit agencies. The format of these projects varies from four-week, intensive workshops to year-long courses, but a common theme is their emphasis on the opportunity for students to complete work in a “realworld” environment. The benefit of experiential learning opportunities to graduate students in public administration and public policy programs has been the focus of much research. Whitaker and Berner (2004) discuss the value of Master of Public Administration (MPA) public service team projects for helping students develop research and management skills. Bernstein, Ohren and Shue (2003) cite greater civic engagement as one benefit of the service-learning program at Eastern Michigan University, and conclude that the benefits of service learning outweigh the costs. Smith (2005) notes that in addition to providing NYU Wagner students with the opportunity to integrate the knowledge, understanding, and skills they’ve developed at school, Capstone students also “experience the value of professional networks and get an early introduction to many value conflicts and ethical dilemmas similar to those they will face in their careers” (Smith, 2005, p.195). Many other articles emphasize the general value of enabling students to bridge theory and practice through work with the wider community (Jelier & Clarke, 1999; Allard & Straussman, 2003; Denhardt, Lewis, Raffel, & Rich, 1997; Cohen, Eimicke, & Ukeles, 1995). Most research on experiential learning programs focuses on their benefits to students, not to the client organizations. Yet, implicit in the development of these programs is the assumption that students are providing a valuable public service. Input from organizations that participate in such programs supports this assumption. For example, the Congressional Research Service (CRS), a frequent client of capstone projects, states that their “involvement in such programs can benefit the students, the school, the Congress, and CRS in multiple ways” (CRS, 2007, p.5). The client comments included in Whitaker and Berner’s (2004) article, as well as Bernstein et al.’s (2003) discussion of the benefits to the City of Ypsilanti, offer more evidence for the use of such projects to the client organization. And, NASPAA has deemed the public service component of experiential learning programs as important, too. NASPAA’s Data Task Force (McFarland, 2007) — whose charge is to identify “appropriate, relevant and verifiable measures of the educational quality and characteristics of public affairs programs” and to “counter the federal government’s pressure for public accountability with their own voluntary data efforts” (p.1) — has identified “discernable impacts on community well-being and advancement” (p.3) as a desired data-collection effort. NYU Wagner sought to find out more formally and definitively if capstone projects indeed “address challenges and identify opportunities for a client organization” and “contribute not only to the students’ education, but also to the 446 Journal of Public Affairs Education
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